Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Sandi Dooley Reviews Julie Blackmon, #9

Julie Blackmon makes dynamic images of family life, telling stories within a single frame, often using compositing, according to Allen Murabayashi in Photoshelter Blog, dated March 11, 2014. She has a keen eye for color, creative composition, and use of commercial items. According to Murabayashi, "the placement of each commercial item is part of her decisive moment". Her work is shown in Time, The New York Times Magazine, Real Simple, and more, as well as in many galleries in the US.

One of my favorites is Thin Mints, which references The Beatles Abbey Road album cover, showing her children crossing a street, pulling a wagon full of Girl Scout Cookies, with the smallest child in the back of the wagon, mouth covered in chocolate (she has obviously been sampling the cookies).

Stock Tank (fourth slide from the left) is a bird's eye view of the backyard pool, but what I noticed first was the unusual abstract composition, with a spiral path going into the center of the pool. The bodies, body parts, toys, shoes, and chair become objects in the spiral in a flat picture plane. The red rectangle on the right might be a diving board, but because of the point of view, this is not obvious. It sets off the green grass nicely.

Her work exemplifies that it is possible to take extraordinary and creative family pictures at home that are fine art.